Today is the day of the Likud primaries. I have not written much about them because the competition over who will make the list has become somewhat insane.
Part of the reason is that Netanyahu has demanded that eight slots be reserved for candidates he wants to add himself. The other is simple arithmetic: Likud currently holds 32 seats in the Knesset, but polling at present with only 22 seats. That leaves a lot of sitting MKs fighting over a shrinking number of seats, with the political careers of some prominent Likud figures hanging in the balance.
It gets more complicated because there are candidates Netanyahu wants to win, and others would clearly prefer to see lose. We will find out tomorrow morning, when the results come in, just how successful Netanyahu was in engineering the list he wanted.
So far, turnout has been lower than in previous Likud primaries. which may indicate a lack of enthusiasm among party members, although it is too early to draw any conclusions. We will know more tomorrow morning, and I will cover the results in tomorrow’s daily update.
BETWEEN TRUMP AND GAZA, NETANYAHU WALKS A FINE LINE
Jared Kushner, Tony Blair and other members of the Board of Peace met with Prime Minister Netanyahu for several hours today. Both sides described the meeting as productive.
While the meeting was underway, President Trump posted that Israel must stop attacking Hamas in Gaza and that he would take care of the problem himself. Netanyahu’s office, however, said that Kushner had agreed that Israel could continue its attacks.
I am skeptical of those reports. Netanyahu cannot afford to appear to be yielding to American pressure on something as central as Gaza and Hamas. At the same time, he cannot afford a direct confrontation with Trump. His challenge will be to find a way to satisfy Trump without appearing at home to have given in to him.
Trump was asked today about the Israeli elections and said it would be best for him to stay out of them, although he left open the possibility of eventually endorsing someone. For Netanyahu, that is a long way from the support he was hoping for just a few months ago.
THE U.S.-IRAN 60-DAY CEASEFIRE ENDS; THE THREATS BEGIN
The 60-day ceasefire between the United States and Iran officially ended yesterday. Trump once again threatened Iran with renewed military action. He also threatened Oman, warning that if it reaches a separate agreement with Iran that does not reopen the strait, the United States will bomb it.
The Iranians, for their part, are threatening to take the initiative, saying that rather than remain on the defensive, they will go on the offensive against the United States and its allies. The threats keep escalating. The rhetoric gets louder. So far, nothing else has happened. I’m not sure it ever will.
From Washington’s perspective, any renewed fighting is unlikely before the November elections. But politics is not the only constraint. The United States also faces a very real shortage of munitions and needs time to replenish its stockpiles and dramatically increase production.
TRUMP’S LATEST CONCESSION TO KIM JONG UN
I tend not to write about American domestic politics or international politics unless they have some connection to the Middle East. But I can’t resist writing about President Trump’s announcement overnight that he has ordered the Defense Secretary to halt joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea.
Why? Because the exercises might upset his good friend Kim Jong Un, the dictator of North Korea. North Korea is a close ally of China and Russia. It is reportedly preparing to send as many as 50,000 additional troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, on top of the weapons and missiles it already supplies Moscow.
So why is President Trump so intent on courting the North Korean leader while leaving South Korea, one of America’s strong allies, out in the cold? It’s like so many things about this president, I truly don’t understand his logic.
BUSINESS
Maytronics
The Kibbutz that owned half the world’s pool robots
Maytronics confirmed to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange this morning that it is in preliminary talks with FIMI over the sale of control, and that it is trying to raise 300 million shekels. The money would go against 600 million shekels of bank debt and toward moving manufacturing out of Israel. FIMI, run by Ishay Davidi, holds a short exclusivity, which the fund requires before it will negotiate at all.
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